The present invention relates to a register for air conditioning, register which is disposed in vehicle passenger rooms to make an opening for blowing out air-conditioning air thereinto. More particularly, it relates to an air-conditioning register whose downward directivity of blowing-out air is improved.
In an instrument panel, there is disposed a register, which works as an opening for blowing out warm or cold air sent out from an air conditioner. Japanese Utility Model Registration No. 2,595,402 discloses one of such registers, which have been known in general. For example, a conventional air-conditioning register comprises a cylinder-shaped retainer, a plurality of horizontal fins, a plurality of vertical fins, and air-blowing-direction varying means. The retainer forms an outlet opening, and air passage. The horizontal fins are disposed pivotally within the retainer, and additionally are parallel to each other. The vertical fins are disposed pivotally within the retainer, and additionally are parallel to each other. The air-blowing-direction varying means is a knob, for instance, and swings the horizontal fins and vertical fins to vary their angles with respect to the retainer so that the air-blowing direction is made variable. Thus, in the conventional air-conditioning register, the air-blowing-direction varying means is usually operated manually to adjust the angles of the horizontal fins and vertical fins with respect to the retainer so that it is possible to control the air-blowing direction of air-conditioning air.
For example, the horizontal fins are supported pivotally to the retainer at one of the opposite short sides, respectively, and are supported pivotally to a connecting rod at the other one of the opposite short sides, respectively. Thus, the horizontal fins are parallel to each other. Moreover, the horizontal fins are connected with a link mechanism by way of the connecting rod. Thus, it is possible to swing all of the horizontal pins synchronously in the up/down direction by actuating the link mechanism by way of the connecting rod.
However, in recent passenger vehicles, it is a desirable instrument-panel decoration that the cross-sectional configuration is drawn as a smooth curve. That is, it is preferred to employ instrument panels with such highly-thrusted decorations that their decorative surface descends smoothly from the windshield glass down to the vehicle passenger room. Consequently, it is necessary to change the shape of air-conditioning registers, which are disposed in such instrument panels.
Specifically, since an instrument panel used to have such a decoration that it is disposed substantially perpendicularly, the opening surface of an air-conditioning register used to be disposed perpendicularly with respect to a horizontal plane. However, the opening surface of an air-conditioning register has come to make an acute angle with respect to a horizontal plane recently. Moreover, it has been preferred conventionally and later on to expose a horizontal-fin assembly rather than a vertical-fin assembly within the outlet opening of an air-conditioning register. In addition, from the viewpoint of decorativeness, the horizontal-fin assembly has been disposed so that the constituent horizontal-fin members are arranged along the opening surface of the outlet opening, that is, in an inclined manner with respect to a horizontal plane.
However, in such a horizontal-fin assembly whose constituent horizontal-fin members are inclined at an acute angle with respect to a horizontal plane, the constituent horizontal-fin members 200 have overlapped to interfere with each other eventually when they are swung to direct the blowing-out air-conditioning air downward, as illustrated in FIG. 14. Accordingly, not only it is difficult to control the blowing-out air downward, but also there arises such a drawback that no air blows out because the constituent horizontal-fin members 200 have nearly shut up the opening 101 of the retainer 100. In such an instance, it is necessary to change the design of the horizontal-fin assembly. However, changing the design of the horizontal-fin assembly might necessitate not only the design change of an air-conditioning register but also the design change of an instrument panel. Consequently, a problem might occur in that the designing man-hour requirements have gone up considerably.
For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (KOKAI) No. 11-139,156 sets forth a problem that the lowermost constituent horizontal-fin member interferes with the inner bottom wall of the retainer so that it is difficult to control the blowing-out air upward. In order to solve this problem, the publication sets forth the following countermeasure. That is, among the holes, which are provided in the connecting rod in order to pivotally support the constituent horizontal-fin members, the lowermost holes are formed as an arc-shaped slot.
However, the problem pointed out in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (KOKAI) No. 11-139,156 occurs in air-conditioning registers whose opening surface is disposed substantially perpendicularly with respect to a horizontal plane. The problem is less likely to occur in air-conditioning registers whose opening surface is disposed at an acute angle with respect to a horizontal plane. Moreover, the problem, shown in FIG. 14, that it is difficult to control the blowing-out air downward results not from the interference between a retainer wall and a constituent fin member but from the interference between constituent fin members. Therefore, by simply applying the technique disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (KOKAI) No. 11-139,156, it is difficult to solve the problem, the limited downward directivity of blowing-out air-conditioning air, which results from the interference between constituent horizontal-fin members.